I just bought this awesome ASUS ROG GL752VW-DH74 gaming laptop. I love everything about it. I paid a lot of money for it, and I have no regrets whatsoever.
Its not the absolute, bleeding-edge, state-of-the-art in computer technology. But its pretty darn close. In terms of power, especially if you’re upgrading from an older laptop, this thing is an Incredible Hulk.
I love everything about it. Well, except one little thing. It comes with Windows 10 pre-installed.
Now Windows 10 is something I don’t want or intend to use, ever. Well, except for maybe a few games (GTA 5 anyone?). But for everything else, I very much prefer Linux Mint and want that as my main operating system on this laptop. So I wanted the option to dual-boot between Linux Mint and Windows 10. And let me tell you, from someone who has dual-boot working, both Windows and Linux scream on this laptop.
Linux is a great, solid, powerful, and most importantly SECURE alternative to Windows 10. I prefer Linux Mint Mate 18.1, not because its necessarily the best Linux distribution out there. I like it because it very much resembles the old Windows XP. You know, the operating system you bought back in the day, and enjoyed using it. Then one day Microsoft rewarded you by turning its back on you. “Buy the new version of Windows now, or fuck you.” And so on, and so on. They will undoubtedly do the same thing to Windows 10 users one day.
But, you know, this is their business model. This is how they operate their corporation. And they have the perfect, eternal right to do so.
And that’s fine. My business model is Linux. And I have the perfect, eternal right to choose it as my operating system over a Microsoft product. I’ve been caught up in their business model before. I’ve been burned by it. Linux is my ticket, and your ticket, out of that unending cycle of nonsense.
Windows has its place for running the greatest games smoothly, with unparalleled compatibility. But when playtime is over, back to Linux for me.
This guide is for those looking for instructions on how to dual-boot Windows 10 and Linux Mint (or a similar OS like Ubuntu) on an ASUS ROG GL752VW-DH74 (or similar) gaming laptop. While there are plenty of dual-boot guides on Youtube, those methods may not completely work on gaming laptops with a dedicated graphics card (such as an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960), in addition to something like an Intel i7 CPU that already has on-board 2D and 3D graphics. With this particular type of hardware setup, I ran into problems, conflicts, and errors when I tried to follow these guides. Your dedicated graphics card is roughly 10x faster at 3D graphics than the CPU, so this is important hardware that you want to fully utilize in Linux. And also, simply for the sake of not having errors in the middle of a dual-boot Linux installation.
The method detailed below requires some familiarity with computers to be carried out successfully. I try to lay out shit as clearly as I can. But some of these instructions can be somewhat involved. There’s some complexity here. As such, there is some risk of running into problems if you decide to not pay close attention to instructions, skip steps, not follow all the steps to the very end of the guide, etc.
I’m not telling you to do anything. I’m just sharing with you what worked for me. And while there may be better ways to do this, the method I describe below gave me results that I’m fully satisfied with. So if you choose to follow this guide, do so at your own risk.
I obtained this guide from bits and pieces of instructions found on various websites and forums. I compiled it all together, along with my own experiences doing this on two different gaming laptops, with complete success on both.
And so we begin…
Step 1
Obtain a Linux Mint Mate 64-bit ISO and burn it onto a DVD.
This ISO can be burned onto a flash drive or other media, too. I didn’t go that route, so I don’t have experience with it. I suppose it would simply be a matter of adjusting the BIOS boot order accordingly.
Step 2 (preface)
There’s some of you who A) have already started your laptop, have completely loaded / configured / updated and played around with the copy of Windows 10 that came pre-installed. Perhaps you want to learn Linux while having Windows 10 to fall back on. That’s fine.
Then, there’s others among you who B) have no desire to load the pre-installed copy of Windows 10 on your laptop even a first time. You want to boot straight into Linux, without giving Microsoft the first opportunity to gain a foothold on your system. I understand that, and I respect that.
So, that being the case, I’ll give separate instructions for (Group A) and (Group B) when and where they differ.
(Group B) people, please skip down to “Step 5 (Group B)”.
Step 3 (Group A)
In Windows 10 > File Explorer > This PC > right-click > Manage > Disk Management >
look for Disk 0 where the C: partition will usually be located > right-click on C: partition > Shrink Volume >
Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB.
The amount of space you’re going to be taking away from the Windows 10 C: drive, is how much space you’ll be giving to Linux Mint to install onto. This number is up to you. If you’re unsure, 20000 is a comfortable minimum for Linux Mint to have. You’ll want to give the greater amount of space to the OS you’re likely going to be using more often. You’ll also want to leave a fair amount of space to the other operating system as breathing room for things like installation of updates, games that won’t run on the other OS, etc.
Once you’ve decided on this number, click the Shrink button. You’ll see a new area on Disk 0 labeled “Unallocated” and will be roughly the same size you entered.
Step 4 (Group A)
In Windows 10, navigate to Control Panel > Change view to icons > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > Change settings that are currently unavailable > in the Shutdown settings category, uncheck “Turn on fast startup” > Save changes
Step 5 (Group A)
Be sure the Linux Mint DVD is in the drive before you shut down. Otherwise, the option to boot from it may not be listed in the BIOS.
Shut down the computer. Not restart. A full, complete shut down.
Step 5 (Group B)
Have your Linux Mint DVD on hand. Start the computer, quickly open your drive tray put the Linux Mint DVD into the optical drive. Close it. Then do a complete, powered-down shutdown. Ignore what’s on the screen. Pressing and holding down the power button should power it down.
Step 6
You need to get into the BIOS. So with the computer fully shut down, press and hold the F2 key. Press and release the power button to start the computer. Keep holding down F2 until you see the BIOS screen.
In the BIOS screen, you’ll notice several tabs of categories. These tabs are usually named Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, Exit.
Your BIOS may be different, but these are generally the settings you’ll need to have:
[security tab]
secure boot menu > secure boot control – disabled
[boot tab]
fast boot – disabled
boot option #1 – DVD (or flash drive)
boot option #2 – windows boot manager
[exit tab]
Save and exit
Step 7
The computer should now boot from the DVD (or flash drive). The first thing a Linux Mint DVD will display is a text-only Grub menu, showing boot options.
Quickly press the letter “e” when these boot options appear. It will take you to a text editor.
Look for the word “splash --” and insert these commands on the same line directly after “splash”. The result should roughly look like this when you’re finished:
splash nouveau.modeset=0 tpm_tis.interrupts=0 acpi_osi=! acpi_backlight=native i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 idle=nomwait --
Check and double-check that you haven’t made any typos.
When ready, press F10 to continue booting from the DVD.
(Group A) goto step 9.
Step 8 (Group B)
Once the Linux Mint live DVD is loaded, search for and open the pre-installed program called “GParted”.
The Windows OS partition (the same partition that would be identified as the C: drive in Windows) is the one you want to change. To identify it in GParted, look for a partition having these properties:
Name: Basic data partition, File system: ntfs, Label: OS
On my computer, the Windows OS partition in GParted is located on SDA3 (meaning “Storage Device ‘A’ partition 3”). Yours could be different, which is fine.
Right-click that partition, choose Resize/Move.
It should be noted that I’ve read that the safer option for resizing this partition is to do it from within Windows itself. However, on my computer, I did resize this partition with GParted, without having loaded Windows a single time. I experienced no problems or issues with this operation. And later on, when I did eventually start Windows, long after Linux Mint had been successfully installed as a dual-boot, Windows loaded, operated, and updated without any issues whatsoever.
The amount of space you’re going to be taking away from the Windows 10 C: drive, is how much space you’ll be giving to Linux Mint to install onto. This number is up to you. If you’re unsure, 20000 is a comfortable minimum for Linux Mint to have. You’ll want to give the greater amount of space to the OS you’re likely going to be using more often. You’ll also want to leave a fair amount of space to the other operating system as breathing room for things like installation of updates, games that won’t run on the other OS, etc.
Once you decide on this number, click the Resize/Move button. You’ll see a new area on on the disk marked as “Unallocated” and will be roughly the same size you entered. Click the “Apply All Operations” button to make the change to the drive.
Step 9
Double-click “Install Linux Mint” located on the Linux Mint live desktop.
When given the option to install 3rd-party software DO NOT enable it. Be sure to uncheck that option. This is important. 3rd-party software will be dealt with later.
In the “Installation type” menu, choose “Something else” and click “Continue”.
You’ll be shown a list of all partitions located on SDA.
On the list, select “free space” and highlight it. There may be more than one listed as free space, so be sure to check that the file size is roughly identical to the amount of space that you took from the Windows C: drive.
Click the + icon. You’ll be shown a “Create partition” menu. Adjust the size so that its 3 gigs smaller than the total free space. For example, lets say the amount of space you freed up earlier is 20000. Resize this one to 17000.
Set it as Primary > Beginning of this space > Use as “Ext4 journaling file system”, and Mount point click the drop-down menu and select “/ “.
Click “OK”.
You’ll see a new free space. It may be, for example, roughly 3 gigs in size, following the example from earlier. Select it so that its highlighted, and click the + icon to bring up the “Create partition” menu.
Leave the size as it is. Choose Logical > Beginning of this space > Use as “swap area”.
Click “OK”.
“Device for boot loader installation” should already be chosen as /dev/sda so leave that as it is.
Be sure to click on the line “Type: ext4” so that its selected/highlighted. Now with that line selected, click the “Install Now” button.
Click “Continue”
Select whatever various options you like when asked.
Once Linux Mint is finished installing, DO NOT RESTART. Choose continue using Linux. This is because we need to do a full power-off shutdown, not a restart.
Choose “Quit” > “Shut Down” from the menu. As for the DVD in the drive, Linux will eject it for you just before it powers off. Remove it.
Step 10
With your laptop now shut down and powered off, press and hold down the SHIFT key. Keep holding it down, press and release the power button. Keep holding down SHIFT until the Linux Grub menu appears. Press the letter “e” to go back into the text editor.
change “quiet splash $vt_handoff“
to
“quiet splash nouveau.modeset=0 tpm_tis.interrupts=0 acpi_osi=! acpi_backlight=native i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 idle=nomwait $vt_handoff“
Press F10 to continue booting into Linux.
Step 11
Now Linux is installed on your computer and running, which is great.
BUT, you’re not done. There’s more, very important steps that still need to be taken for this will work.
Open “File Browser” icon located in the quick launch.
Edit > Preferences > Tick “Show hidden and backup files” and click “Close”.
In “Location:” enter /etc/default/ and go to that location. Select the file called “grub” > right click > open as administrator.
Find the line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”
and change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash nouveau.modeset=0 tpm_tis.interrupts=0 acpi_osi=! acpi_backlight=native i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 idle=nomwait”
Check and double-check for typos. Then, File > Save and close the editor.
Open a terminal. Its the black square icon in the quick start menu.
In your terminal, run the command: sudo update-grub
Reboot your computer: sudo reboot.
Step 12
When the computer reboots this time, the Grub menu will be shown from now on, giving you the options to boot into Linux by default, or Windows 10.
BUT YOU’RE NOT DONE! There’s additional important steps to do.
Once back in Linux, install all the updates. At certain points, you may be asked if you want to overwrite certain files that have been changed. Overwrite everything except the specific “grub” file that you edited earlier.
Also, if you installed from an older Linux Mint ISO, you may be running an earlier version than Linux Mint 18.1. If so, its pretty critical upgrade now. You need 18.1 or later.
To check if you’re using 18.1, open a terminal and enter
cat /etc/*release*
If you’re running a version earlier than 18.1, open Update Manager > Edit menu > Upgrade to 18.1 (or a later version) should be listed as an option.
With all that out of the way, you can reboot if you like. However,
YOU’RE NOT DONE YET. There’s still some very important steps to take.
Open the Update Manager > View > Linux kernels.
This computer uses very modern hardware. You want to be running the very latest Linux kernel to be sure you have the best support for your hardware as possible. You should see an option called 4.10 on the side-menu. Find 4.10.0-21 (or later if it exists). Select it, click the install button. Once its finished, reboot.
Step 13
You’re making great progress, but you’re not finished yet! There’s still very important steps yet to do.
To check that the kernel you installed is now in use, open a termainal and enter:
uname -r
If all is good, then navigate to Start Menu > Administration > Driver Manager
For your NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M video card, you need to install the proper driver. So change the driver that currently in use “xserver-xorg-video-nouveau” to the proper driver “nvidia-375” (or later if it exists).
Apply changes. Once finished, reboot.
Step 14
Now with the proper video driver installed, we need to remove the Grub command line that has your video card currently disabled.
Open “File Browser”. In “Location:” enter /etc/default/ and go to that location. Select the file called “grub” > right click > open as administrator.
Find the line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash nouveau.modeset=0 tpm_tis.interrupts=0 acpi_osi=! acpi_backlight=native i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 idle=nomwait”
edit out “nouveau.modeset=0” so that it looks like:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash tpm_tis.interrupts=0 acpi_osi=! acpi_backlight=native i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 idle=nomwait”
Check, and double-check that everything is correct. File > Save and close the editor.
In your terminal run the command: sudo update-grub
Reboot your computer: sudo reboot
Step 15
Once Linux is again loaded, go to Start Menu > Administration and open “NVIDIA X SERVER Settings”
At this point, it will probably only show only 2 options. Close “NVIDIA X SERVER Settings” and reboot the computer.
Once Linux is again loaded, go to Start Menu > Administration and open “NVIDIA X SERVER Settings”
It should show tons of options now, because the driver is now working properly and your hardware is now completely set up and good to go.
Now that you’re set up to easily switch between Windows and Linux, operating system compatibility for the latest and best in gaming is no obstacle for you. If you’d like to give back, in appreciation for this guide, please consider these mainstream desktop gaming offers for your new system.
For something more adult-oriented, there’s also many 18+ restricted games to choose from.
So my friends, I hope this guide works well for you. If so, share the link to this page so it can help as many people as possible. Leave a comment below, or follow me on Twitter @MFCTeens and message me if you have suggestions on improving this guide, or need additional help.
Thanks for visiting.